By Vivian Wang
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Just after midnight in May 2014, April Williams loaded groceries into her car at Woodman’s Food Market in Menomonee Falls and prepared to drive home. Before she even left the parking lot, a police officer pulled her over and wrote two tickets: one for a broken taillight, one for driving without insurance.
She couldn’t pay the tickets — she had filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was unemployed — but didn’t think much of it.
In the weeks ahead, the single mother kept driving, keeping appointments for her children and meeting her case manager at a W-2 agency for help with her job search.
In September she was pulled over again, this time for expired plates. She also got a ticket for a violation she never expected: operating while suspended.
Williams didn’t know Menomonee Falls Municipal Court had suspended her license for not paying the May tickets. If the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles had sent her a letter, she hadn’t received it, as by that point she’d been homeless for a month.
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